The Elicitor is the literary magazine of Gloucester (MA) High School.
Enjoy new work selected by the 2016-2017 editors Julia Johnson and Jillian Oliveira. The Elicitor online is updated every two weeks. Thank you to the Gloucester Education Foundation for financial support.

One day when I was five, my parents and I went for a walk in
the nearby park.It was a warm autumn
day and the bright, colorful leaves were twirling in the breeze.I was walking down the paved road, enjoying
the day when suddenly, I heard a faint noise.At first, I thought I was just hearing things, but then I heard it
again.Quickly, I followed the sound
until I found its source; a small mockingbird who had broken its wing and was
crying shrilly for help.I gently
cradled the poor bird in my cupped hands and ran to my parents.We returned home and I helped nurse the
mockingbird back to health.When it was
time to release it, I felt sad that it had to go.However, I was pleased that the mockingbird
was healthy and free again.As time
passed, I forgot about the mockingbird and my life went on.Seven years after the mockingbird, my father
died in a horrific car accident.I sank
into a deep depression and nothing could shake me out of it, not even the
comfort my mother and my friends tried to give me.One day, I was sitting in my room, staring
blankly at the wall as the rain fell heavily against the windows when suddenly,
I heard a tapping noise.I looked and
outside my window was a mockingbird, trying to find shelter from the heavy rainfall.I walked over to the window and opened it and
the little bird flew in swiftly, simultaneously shaking rainwater from its
feathers.At first, I was slightly
irritated that the bird had slightly dampened me, but then I realized that the
little mockingbird was flying towards me, unafraid.Tentatively, I stuck out my pointer finger
and the mockingbird landed gracefully on it.A memory buried deep within my mind slowly surfaced as I examined the
little bird.“Could this be the same bird I nursed back to health so long ago?” I
thought.Suddenly, the bird opened its
beak and began to sing.The melody was
the most beautiful I had ever heard and it began to slowly lift my spirits.The corners of my mouth slowly lifted and
after what seemed like a century, I smiled for the first time in weeks.I listened to the mockingbird’s song for a
few more minutes and then I noticed that the rain had stopped.The mockingbird seemed to notice too because
it flew off my finger toward the window.Reluctantly, I opened the window and the bird immediately flew off into
the warm sunshine, never to be seen again.All of a sudden, my mother walked in.She noticed my smile and asked what had happened that had made me happy
again.I simply said, “An old friend
came to visit.”

The air was brisk and cool,
The breeze filtered cleanly through the feathers,
While gleefully he observed the stark blue of the sky above,
and the water below.
The shore he fled was spotted orange and red with foliage,
as bright and burning as the sun.
He shivered under the shade of the wings,
Up he would go,
Beyond the chilly undercurrents of the sea's wind
To the welcoming rays of the sun.
The higher he flew, the more sun he felt on his back,
Strange, he thought, that the feathers should so quickly let in light.
In the distance he heard the shrieks of the birds and the yelps of
people on the shore,
How jealous they are of my flight.
He chuckled at the way the world leapt higher and higher to reach him.
It was overzealous to match his accomplishment,
But only he could reach the sun.

Wait.
The faces blinked back at him from the sun,
and the sky gained life and texture as the world got closer.
The fisherman yanked a catch from among the clouds,
and the farmer collected the harvest he had grown among the fiery forest.
The commoners had stolen his prize,
they'd beat him too it.

He passed his father in his climb,
But wait,
His father was falling!
Rescue him?
He tried to fly to catch him,
but his wings would not let him dive.

The sky was much wetter than he had imagined,
Perhaps he had not fallen up.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Elicitor is the literary magazine of Gloucester (MA) High School.
Enjoy new work selected by the 2016-2017 editors Julia Johnson and Jillian Oliveira. The Elicitor online is updated every two weeks. Thank you to the Gloucester Education Foundation for financial support.

The Elicitor Version 2.017

1. Welcome to the Elicitor blog. As often as we can we will publish something new--a poem, a short story, a photograph, or something else--by a Gloucester High School student. If you have something you would like for us to consider for electronic publication please email it to juliajohnson@gloucesterschools.com or jillianoliveira@gloucesterschools.com.

2. In addition to updating the blog on a bi-weekly basis we are gathering writing and art for a Spring 2017 full magazine issue of the Elicitor. Please submit work (marked Elicitor) toJulia Johnson, Jillian Oliveira, Ms. Eastman in room 3203, or to your English teacher. All submissions are welcome. We want to read what you've written and look at the art you've made.

Contributors

Gloucester Poet Laureate Scholarship

Organization: John J. Ronan

Amount: $250.00 – girl; $250.00 - boy

Requirements: The Poet Laureate Scholarship was created in 2009 to recognize graduating seniors from GloucesterHigh School who show an interest and ability in poetry. Winners need not be residents of Gloucester. In any year, if only one winner is chosen, that senior will receive $500. Applicants must submit a one page letter explaining past interest and activities involving poetry, and three sample poems.